The World We Know
by Ro-and-Dan
Summary: Legolas really didn't know how they got to this place, but he was pretty sure it was Aragorn's fault. (Or, how three elves and a human ended up stranded in New York. NOT AU)
1. Chapter 1

Legolas really didn't know how they got to this place, but he was pretty sure it was Aragorn's fault, or he at least had something to do with it.

He spun around once, his cloak billowing behind him as he took in his surroundings, large grey mounds shot up from the ground, far into the sky, colour creatures zoomed this way and that, roaring as they went.

Elrohir coughed. "I don't think we're in Imaldris anymore." He pointed out looking around at the people who were staring at them curiously.

"Ya don't say?" Elladan said with a snort, making a big hand motion to their surroundings.

"Where are all the trees?" Legolas whispered, searching for any signs of the large plants, finding none.

"I think trees should be at the bottom of our priority list mellon-nin..." Aragorn said with a small grin.

"There has to be some trees somewhere, if there wasn't, we wouldn't be breathing!" Elrohir piped in.

Aragorn groaned. "Don't encourage him! Look, we need to figure out where we are!"

"You're in New York, mate!" One of the many humans passing by yelled to them, a bemused look on their face.

Elladan's nose crinkled up. "Never heard of such a place... Who is your ruler?"

The human took up a slightly confused look. "Uh, Obama I guess? I gotta run though, got a bus to catch. Cool costumes by the way!" The human said before taking off, probably towards the rogue 'bus' they spoke of.

"Costumes?" Legolas mumbled, examining his robe carefully. "These are not costumes..." he said, confused by the humans words.

Aragorn shrugged, unconsciously fingering his own cloak as he spoke. "These men are strange... We must be wary." He said, slowly drawing his sword from its sheath.

Legolas nodded in agreement, pull his bow from his back as they continued walking slowly.

"What is that?" Elrohir said in astonishment as he pointed to one of the many large screens plastered on the sides of the buildings.

"'Tis a giant," Elladan proclaimed in alarm as a shampoo ad started playing. "A naked she-giant!"

Legolas reacted instantly to Elladan's alarmed cry, notching an arrow and shooting it at the screen, effectively breaking it.

Alarmed gasps came from the crowds around them as the screen sparked out.

Aragorn looked warily around as heads turned to stare at Legolas in alarm. "Perhaps the she-giant was their goddess..." Aragorn mumbled.

"Drop your weapons now!" The group spun in alarm at the cry from behind them, a group of police officers stood, armed with guns.

Elrohir snorted. "You demand this when you are not armed yourself!"

The police officers looked momentarily confused by this statement. Legolas took the moment of confusion to notch an arrow, pointing it at the nearest officer.

"Legolas, daro!"

Legolas faltered slightly at the elvish cry that came from in the crowd as one of the officers shoved his way to the front of the group.

"Greg, what are you doing!? These people are insane!" Legolas heard one of the officers hiss to the man as he pulled his helmet off, his long gold hair falling out.

"Glorfindel!" The twins cried in a mix of surprise and confusion.

"Hand me your weapons." Glorfindel said seriously, holding his arms out to take them.

The group hesitated slightly, but handed him their weapons none the less.

Glorfindel nodded to them before turning back to the group of confused officers. "I will take them back to the station, the rest of you continue with your patrols." Glorfindel turned back to the group, grabbing hold of the twins arms and dragging them towards his police car, Legolas and Aragorn following slightly behind them.

As they reached the car, Glorfindel pulled the twins into a fierce hug. "We searched for you for many years, your father nearly faded many times..." Glorfindel said with a sigh as he pulled away from the twins, opening the side door of the car as he did so. "Get in you guys, and buckle up, we don't need any elves dying in a car crash, there are already so few of us left." He said with a sad smile as he himself got into, demonstrating how to operate the buckle.

Before long they were off, the twins letting out yells of surprise as the car started moving, gripping their seats in panic.

"What is the dark magic, Glorfindel!?" Aragorn cried in alarm, watching with shock as the outside world zoomed past.

Glorfindel shook his head in amusement. "'Tis a dragon." He said with a grin on his face.

Legolas' eyes widened. "You have learned to tame dragons?" He asked in amazement.

Glorfindel broke out laughing. "Yes, I suppose we have." Glorfindel decided it would probably be easier to explain the cars to the group later.

The group watched the quickly passing scenery during the drive, completely entranced by the amazing 'Dragons' that allowed you to ride them without complaint.

Elladan turned his attention away from the window to Glorfindel, who sat beside him. "You mentioned our ada... is he...?" He asked quietly, trailing off near the end of his sentence.

Glorfindel shook his head sharply. "He is fine, don't worry! Although I don't know where he lives right now unfortunately... I haven't seen him in a while..." Glorfindel said, smiling fondly at the thought of his old lord.

Elladan nodded, a small smile on his face from the news that his Ada was alive and well.

The car rolled to a stop about 20 mins later, Glorfindel hopping out of the car, the others taking a little while longer, trying to figure out how to undo the seatbelts holding them to the seats. When finally out of the seatbelt, Aragorn stumbled out of the car, puking onto the pavement, earning disgusted looks from passing people and an amused grunt from Glorfindel.

"Come now, mi casa es su casa!" Glorfindel said beaming. He sighed at the four confused looks the statement earned him. "Just... come in." He said, unlocking the door to his house before stepping inside, the four following slowly behind him.

Aragorn jumped, startled as a soft mew came from beside his foot, a small kitten brushing itself against his dirty boots.

Glorfindel beamed at the small animal, leaning over and gently scooping it up and holding it against his chest, cooing.

Elrohir and Elladan watched, slightly perturbed by the sight. The great balrog slayer, cooing at a tiny, fluffy mammal.

"This is Freckles!" Glorfindel said with a smile as he held the kitten out to the twins, Elrohir taking it from his hand awkwardly.

"What purpose does this animal serve? Do you plan to eat it?" Legolas asked, his brow raised, his finger prodding the kitten in confusion.

Glorfindel let out a horror filled gasp, ripping Freckles from Elrohir's grasp and holding him protectively against his chest. "No Legolas! He is my pet, why would I eat him?!" Glorfindel asked in horror.

"A...pet?" Legolas asked, clearly confused.

"My companion? Kind of like a horse but...not?" Glorfindel tried to explain. When Legolas opened his mouth to ask another question, he sighed. "Just... I'll explain it later... for now, you all must be starving!" He said with a grin.

Aragorn nodded. "We have been through much today, a good meal would be appreciated, Mellon nin."

"Very well, sit, relax! I will bring you food in a bit!" He said, gesturing to the couches, as he left the room.

"Does he seem a little different to you?" Elladan whispered to Elrohir, who nodded in agreement.

Legolas sighed, resting his face in his palms as to try to escape the twins conversation of Glorfindel's new quirks.

* * *

The complete and utter true story of how we ended up in this desolate...I mean... pretty place...

-Ro


	2. Chapter 2

Legolas groaned as Elrohir threw yet another pillow at his twin, who ducked, allowing the pillow to smack Aragorn in the face. "Will you two ever cease your childishness?"

The twins froze, turning to stare at Legolas, appalled. "Legolas, you have turned into your ada!" Elrohir cried.

Elladan launched himself at Legolas, shaking him desparately. "Mellon-nin do not allow him to corrupt you, free yourself from his clutches!" Elladan yelled, before Legolas threw him off the sofa.

"Are you guys alright in there...?" Glorfindel called worriedly, from where he stood in the kitchen.

"I believe Dan and Ro are attempting to rescue Legolas from Thranduil." Aragorn said, staring with one brow raised as Legolas leapt onto Elladan, Elrohir following suit.

There was a long silence from the kitchen before Glorfindel replied. "Alright then..."

The three elves wrestled on the floor for about ten minutes before Glorfindel brought the food in, a large pot of pasta. The three instantly got back into their seats at the sight of Glorfindel, eager to eat.

"Um, I'm pretty sure we never had anything like this back then so I guess this will be an adventure for all of you..." Glorfindel said as he started dishing out the food.

"I love adventures!" Elladan cried excitedly, eagerly grabbing his plate from Glorfindel's hands.

Glorfindel narrowed his eyes. "Yes, we know you do."

Everyone ate their food in relative silence, which Glorfindel did not at all mind, knowing he was not going to get a lot of it for a while.

The phone rang, causing the four to jump, Aragorn nearly dropping his plate.

"What is that!" Aragorn asked, wide eyed as he stared around.

"It's just the phone, be right back." Glorfindel said, hurrying into the other room to grab the phone. He returned five minutes later, his jacket in hand. "I'm really sorry, but they need me down at the station, I wouldn't go unless it was an emergency! Stay here, don't touch anything, and do not eat my cat!" And then he was gone, leaving the four completely unattended.

The first moments after the door slammed ominously shut were filled with silence. Finally though, it was broken, as Aragorn peered over his plate at Elladan's food. "Are you going to finish that?" He asked.

The elf scowled slightly, but slid his half eaten food towards his brother.

Eventually finishing, the four stared awkwardly at each other.

"What now...?" Elladan asked.

"Should we clean up?" Elrohir wondered, pensively.

"He said not to touch anything." Legolas observed.

The four continued to stare at each other. Elladan began to drum his fingers on the table.

Elrohir stood up. "I'm bored." he announced. Elladan followed. "Me too."

Aragorn looked at them, then Legolas, then also stood and left the table.

Elrohir went off into one room, Elladan following, presumably to find something interesting. Aragorn wandered in the opposite direction, announcing that he was gonna see if he could find anything at all familiar.

Legolas stared after them all. "He said not to touch anything!" He reminded them.

Elladan waved him off from the other room. "But he never told us when he was coming back. We can't be expected to simply sit around waiting for him to return."

Legolas only looked more concerned, making the twins laugh. Finally he gave up and left his seat at the table, deciding to find where Aragorn had wandered off to.

Within minutes, there came a crash from the bedroom. The twins stared at each other over the smashed pieces of glass lying all over the floor before them.

"I did not do that." Elrohir said firmly.

"It just fell." Elladan agreed, nodding.

"On it's own." Elrohir quickly hid his slightly singed and bleeding fingers behind his back. The two of them scampered out of the room at the sound of alarmed screeching, and found Legolas standing in the middle of what they already knew was the kitchen, water dripping from his face and hair. The entire front of his tunic was soaked. He sputtered a bit at them when they came into the room.

The drenching wet elf was trying to fend of a loudly cackling Ranger who was holding something in his hand that was shooting water at the elf. Soon enough the two of them were equally soaked and rolling across the kitchen floor. Stepping back quietly, not wanting to be noticed, the twins were almost out of the room when there was a loud _crack_ and water exploded everywhere.

* * *

Elrond paused suddenly, midstep, on his way to his study, and gave his wife a deeply confused look. "I just got the strangest feeling... that I should call Glorfindel." He spoke slowly.

Celebrian glanced up from her computer and furrowed her brows at him. "Now? You haven't spoken to him in such a long time..."

Elrond frowned. "It has been a while, hasn't it? I don't mean to let these things happen, I just get so busy..."

His wife nodded in understanding. "You still have his number, of course?"

Elrond nodded. "Yes, I still keep all the files as up-to-date as I can. We've already seen firsthand how dangerous it can be to lose track of each other completely. I haven't contacted him in…. years now." He took a moment to look ashamed. "But I still know where to find him." Reaching for his desk phone, he dialed Glorfindel's number.

It rung so many times he worried there would be no answer, but finally, on the last ring, someone picked up. Before Elrond could speak a single word, his speaker was filled with screaming and he had to hold the phone away from his ear. Easing it back into position, he tried to focus on what could be heard. Through the phone came the sounds of eerily familiar screeching, and distant muffled shouting. The voices were too muffled and far away to recognize, yet they still filled him with a deep sense of foreboding and anticipation. He tried speaking a few times, but it was obvious there was nobody listening on the other end. He gingerly hung the phone back up and turned to Celebrian with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I think he's drunk."


	3. Chapter 3

It did not take long for the excitement of the day to wear off. After completely trashing Glorfindel's apartment, with nothing else to do, it was inevitable that everybody's thoughts turned to the events of the morning. And each elf - and the adan - seemed to be reacting to it differently.

Elladan was pacing in front of the small living room window, stopping briefly on each turn to pull the curtain aside and peer outside. His scowl deepened with each pivot. Elrohir meanwhile was sitting on the couch nearby, carefully following the movements of his twin.

Legolas was lying on the couch beside the twin with his eyes shut, appearing relaxed to the casual observer. All in the room however could tell that he was as taut as an overtightened bowstring. Aragorn seemed to be the only one who was at all relaxed, rolling on the carpet as Freckles chased the fraying threads trailing from his jacket.

"Dan…." Elrohir began cautiously, not wanting to upset his obviously agitated brother. "What are you thinking…?"

Elladan stopped pacing abruptly and turned to look at his twin, emotions flashing across his face too quickly to read - though Elrohir already knew how he was feeling nonetheless.

"When Glorfindel found us earlier. He said they searched 'many years'. He said that adar nearly faded, _many times_. Tell me, do you _feel_ as though we have been missing for _many years_?" He spun to face Aragorn. "Estel, tell me, _adan_. Do you feel _aged?_"

Aragorn looked up from where he was playing with Freckles on the floor and blinked, brushing the kitten off his chest. "No."

Elladan nodded. "Look outside." He gestured widely with one hand towards the window. "What do you see? Do you see any trace of Imladris? No? Perhaps you recognize some trace of Greenwood the Great. Perhaps Rohan? Gondor? Harad, even! I recognize nothing." He trailed off again, leaving the room in a heavy silence. Eventually he continued again, subdued. "From what Glorfindel has told us, we can assume that somehow, we have been gone for a great many years. We do not know how much time has passed, or where we are."

The room became quiet again, save for the plaintive mew of Freckles as Aragorn stopped playing with him.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Legolas asked suddenly. Another moment passed before Elrohir answered, sounding uncertain.

"Elladan and I were swimming together, under one of the waterfalls in the…. No…"

Elladan was already shaking his head. "No, I remember that. But that was some time ago. We were riding with Aragorn and the othe-" now Elladan stopped, looking startled. "What am I saying? That can't possibly have been the last thing we were doing!"

"I seem to remember being on a Quest of some small importance?" Legolas put in, innocently. Elladan abruptly sat on the floor, looking shocked.

"Ai! How could we have forgotten that?" Elrohir cried in confusion.

Elladan nodded. "I remember now. Quite clearly. But why would I forget?"

"I'm sure that being ripped from time isn't simple business. Perhaps our timelines simply got a little torn up in the process." Elrohir suggested, seeming very calm in the face of such a possibility.

Aragorn looked troubled. "At the very least, I seem to remember a whole lot more than the three of you."

Elladan shot him a sharp look before standing again. "I need to know where we are. I need to at the very least, _try_ and find out how much time has passed. And I want to see if I can find _ada_."

Elrohir frowned at him. "I'm not sure that is such a good idea. Glorfindel told us to wait for him here. And, if anybody knows where to find ada, it will be him."

Legolas was already agreeing. "Elrohir is right. We know nothing about where, or when, we have found ourselves. It would be best if we waited for someone who did understand this place to help us - namely, Glorfindel."

Elladan was shaking his head, and his hands, pacing again and looking about to burst from nervous energy. "I cannot wait. We do not know how long he will be gone. Perhaps we can follow him. Then we will not need to wait."

"Elladan, I do not think this is such a good idea." Legolas began.

Elladan spun towards the door abruptly. "I will be outside. I am leaving in a few minutes, come and join me if you wish to."

A moment later he was gone, leaving Legolas and Aragorn in startled stunned silence.

"Well that was… abrupt." Aragorn comment blandly.

Elrohir sighed. "He has a point. No, I don't think his idea to wander off is a good one, but… sitting around and waiting doesn't feel right either. I also want some answers."

"And you think you'll find them out there?" Legolas asked.

"Truly? No. But keeping him cooped up when he's like this isn't an option. He's too emotional. In any case, I'm not letting him wander off alone." With that, Elrohir stood and made his way for the door.

Legolas sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this." He muttered as he made to follow, Aragorn close behind him.

* * *

Ro has decided that he doesn't actually want to write any of the boring parts and has commanded that I write all of the filler and keep track of everything that happened in between what he decides was cool. So I guess you're stuck with me, for a little while.

-Dan


	4. Chapter 4

Elrohir watched his brother with concern, as the other elf paced anxiously on the sidewalk in front of Glorfindel's apartment building.

"I do not like this place." Elladan repeated yet again, quite unnecessarily. His original plan to follow Glorfindel had been thwarted almost instantly upon stepping outside. The ground here was all smooth, perfectly cut stone, and there were humans everywhere. More of the "dragons" Glorfindel had taken them in were zooming about everywhere. It was relatively easy for the elves and human to figure out that the mysterious creatures were not dragons, and in fact not creatures at all. They were not alive, and evidently served as the primary form of transportation in this place. The fact that none of them could even begin to fathom how or why they functioned only further served to emphasize how truly lost and out of their depth they were.

Towers of stone and glass rose on all sides of them, cutting off any view of the horizon and making the four, but especially the elves, feel trapped and claustrophobic. Elladan was half convinced he wold have been able to come up with a means to track Glorfindel if he weren't so overwhelmed and distracted by his surroundings. They were _bright_, with lights seemingly coming from all directions, shining from the 'dragons', shining from the walls, from the sky, everywhere you looked. They were _loud_, noises he couldn't make sense of bombarding him. These were not the sounds of a busy city or a bustling market. These were not the sounds of a loud forge. These were not the sounds of a battle. These sounds were all alien to him, and he didn't even know how to begin to interpret them.

As an elf, he took pride in his ability to remain aware of his surroundings, always vigilant, and more importantly, always in control of his situation. Standing here, right now, was making him feel very small and powerless. His senses were being bombarded by things he could not understand he could not tell what was a danger and what was not. As it was, the constant movement, loud noises, bright lights, high walls, speeding objects, and people surrounding him on all sides, had his brain screaming "danger!" But none of the adain who lived here seemed concerned, so he had to classify all of these things as "safe" for the time being, just so he could function. A glance at his companions showed that they too were struggling to take in everything they were seeing, hearing, and even smelling.

Elladan took a deep breath as he collected himself. "Take note of where we are" he commanded, unnecessarily, as all those here had already done that. "If we don't find Glorfindel within the next four hours, we will return here and wait for him." Although they didn't all agree with this plan, the others conceded. Aragorn, at least, was eager to learn more about wherever they had found themselves, and agreed that exploring and asking questions was the best way to do so.

Thankfully, not one of their company suggested that they split up, so the four set off together, choosing one direction at random. They knew from the start that finding Glorfindel by chance would be next to impossible, but they were more concerned with gathering information by this point they were about finding Glorfindel.

As they walked, Elrohir could feel Elladan's grip on his hand tightening. He doubted that Elladan even realized he was doing it, but it was a clear sign of his mounting anxiety. So far, the information they had gathered had all been next to useless.

Where were they? They had gotten many different answers. New York. America. The United States. The USA. Manhattan. It depended on who they asked and how they worded their question. From what they could piece together, New York was the name of either the city or country which they were in. Manhattan was most likely a specific region within New York. The rest they had a harder time understanding. The other terms _seemed_ to be able to be used interchangeably, but they knew that with their limited knowledge there were probably quite a few nuances they didn't understand. As far as they could guess, The USA, or America, was possibly also the country they were in. However, it could also be the name of a continent. There was even the possibility, and this seemed very likely, that this was the phrase the people here used to refer to Arda.

Regardless, all of this information was useless, as they had no context to put it into. Not one of the names they had heard was remotely familiar. They were all relatively well read, and well traveled, but none of them had ever heard the names of any of these places before. And when they asked, none of the adain here had heard of a single place they had listed off. Not Gondor, not Rohan. None had heard of Middle-Earth, nor Endor nor Ennorath. Not Wilderland nor Rhovanion. Not Rhûn. Not Khand. Not Harad. Not Eriador. Not one place they spoke of was recognized by a single adan who lived here, and not one place that the adain spoke of was familiar to the elves or Estel. The only thing they could gather from this was that they were indeed _very far _from home.

But where could they possibly be that not one country, region, or city, from their home was recognized even by name. That, or they were so far removed from their own time that not one single trace of it was left.

At this, they sat on a wooden bench to think about all they had discovered, and all they had not discovered.

Elladan looked ill. Legolas looked troubled. Elrohir had detached himself from his own feelings because his brother's white-knuckled grip of his own hand left him more concerned with how he was faring. Aragorn only looked thoughtful. They sat beside each other in silence for a long time before Aragorn broke the silence.

"While I don't doubt that we may well have traveled a great distance, I think it is more likely that we truly are so far from our own time that it is no longer even a memory."

Elladan went rigid but did not diagree.

"Why do you say that?" Elrohir questioned cautiously.

"The society here... it is not just a different culture. They do not do things "differently" because of different customs. There is... I do not know how to put it. The things I have seen today are not things I would ever have imagined possible."

Legolas nodded. "It is not just that the people are strange. It is the objects that surround us. The height of the buildings. The moving pictures, towering above us. The _dragons_. I do not know how they work, but there are so many. Even the simplest of things here are far beyond the capabilities of what we have back home."

Aragorn nodded. Elrohir had no choice but to agree.

"If that is true, then I hope we may be able to eventually return home, however we arrived here in the first place." Elladan sighed softly.

The others looked at him.

"It pained me to think too hard on it, but now it has come to pass nonetheless. Imladris is gone, lost to time, and I was not even there to see it happen."

"Maybe it is better this way." Elrohir began cautiously. "It _did _pain you to see how she faded. Maybe it is best that you were not there, at the end."

Elladan frowned. "I did not get to say a proper goodbye... I was never truly prepared to leave. I doubted that I ever would be."

Elrohir placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It was only a place, Elladan."

"It was my home." He answered sadly.

The four sat in silence for some time, each once again thinking about this strange new situation. They did not realize, but far more time had passed then the original four hours they had planned on spending outside. It was difficult to keep track of time in this place. When the silence was eventually broken once again, it made them all jump, even though Elladan's voice was quiet.

"How many centuries must have passed." Elladan asked softly, gazing straight ahead with an unreadable expression. "Glorfindel touched on it, but he clearly did not want to reveal to us the true depth of what was said. He told us that ada nearly faded. Not only once, but many times. Do you suppose he waited? Do you suppose he waited to sail, hoping we would be found? How long do you think he would have waited, separated from us, and separated from naneth. Alone. How long until he could wait no longer, and was forced to sail into the west, with only the hope that we would one day follow. How many centuries do you think passed there. Do you suppose," he added, turning to look at Elrohir, "that he thought we had died. Maybe he was left with no choice but to assume that we had ridden out, and died. And he was powerless to do aught but wait for us to one day be reembodied in Aman. Except, we never were. We were never reembodied. And we never sailed. And perhaps he was left to assume not just that we had died, but that we had chosen to die as Men. And we would never be reembodied, and we would never sail, and we had never had a chance to properly say goodbye to him, or even tell him of our choice. And now he believes that he will never see even one of his children again, til the breaking of the world." He paused, looking only at Elrohir. "Do you suppose that that is what Glorfindel did not say to us?"

Elrohir looked as if he had been slapped. "Elladan-" he cut himself off, unsure of how to continue. He trembled.

Seeing his brother's distress, Elladan's eyes softened marginally. "I am sorry." He apologized weakly, and looked at the ground. "Perhaps we are wrong, and it has not been so long after all."


End file.
